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Juan Gabriel Vasquezbooks include the 2014 International IMPAC Dublin award winner and national bestseller, The Sound of Things Falling, as well as the award-winning The Informers and The Secret History of Costaguana.

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The Physics of Superheroes: Spectacular Second Edition

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Overview

A complete update to the hit book on the real physics at work in comic books, featuring more heroes, more villains, and more science

Since 2001, James Kakalios has taught “Everything I Needed to Know About Physics I Learned from Reading Comic Books,” a hugely popular university course that generated coast-to-coast media attention for its unique method of explaining complex physics concepts through comics. With The Physics of Superheroes, named one of the best science books of 2005 by Discover, he introduced his colorful approach to an even wider audience. Now Kakalios presents a totally updated, expanded edition that features even more superheroes and findings from the cutting edge of science. With three new chapters and completely revised throughout with a splashy, redesigned package, the book that explains why Spider-Man’s webbing failed his girlfriend, the probable cause of Krypton’s explosion, and the Newtonian physics at work in Gotham City is electrifying from cover to cover.

Table of Contents

The Physics of Super HeroesForewordPreface to the Second EditionIntroduction: Secret Origins: How Science Saved Superhero Comic Books

Section 1-Mechanics

1. Up, Up, and Away-Forces and Motion2. Deconstructing Krypton-Newton’s Law of Gravity3. The Day Gwen Stacy Died-Impulse and Momentum4. Flash Facts-Friction, Drag, and Sound5. If This Be My Density-Properties of Matter6. So He Talks to Fishes, Want to Make Something of It?-Fluid Mechanics7. Can He Swing From a Thread?-Centripetal Acceleration8. Can Ant-Man Punch His Way Out of a Paper Bag?-Torque and Rotation9. The Human Top Goes Out for a Spin-Angular Momentum10. Is Ant-Man Deaf, Dumb, and Blind?-Simple Harmonic Motion11.Like a Flash of Lightning-Special Relativity

Section 2-Energy-Heat and Light

12. The Central City Diet Plan-Conservation of Energy13. The Case of the Missing Work-The Three Laws of Thermodynamics14. Mutant Meteorology-Conduction and Convection15. How the Monstrous Menace of the Mysterious Melter Makes Dinner Preparation a Breeze-Phase Transitions16. Electro’s Clinging Ways-Electrostatics17. Superman Schools Spider-Man-Electrical Currents18. How Electro Becomes Magneto When He Runs-Ampere’s Law19. How Magneto Becomes Electro When He Runs-Magnetism and Faraday’s Law20. Electro and Magneto Do the Wave-Electromagnetism and Light

Section 3-Modern Physics

21. Journey Into the Microverse-Atomic Physics22. Not a Dream! Not a Hoax! Not an Imaginary Tale!-Quantum Mechanics23. Through a Wall Lightly-Tunneling Phenomena24. Sock It to Shellhead-Solid-State Physics25. The Costumes are Super, Too-Materials Science